Judge Orders Long Island College Hospital to Keep Up Staffing

SUNY Downstate Medical Center Had Moved to Close Earlier This Year

A judge has ordered a financially strapped hospital in Brooklyn to keep up its staffing levels after complaints from hospital workers.

State Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes ordered Long Island College Hospital to maintain the staffing it had before the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center moved to close it earlier this year.

Baynes signed the order Wednesday.

A lawyer for the New York State Nurses Association told The New York Times that the judge also raised the possibility of appointing a special master to run the hospital. The nurses, doctors and health care workers' union have sued to stop the closing of the hospital.

A SUNY Downstate spokesman says doctors and nurses have been leaving the hospital despite SUNY's efforts to keep it open.